


To Their Knees

by tabbytabbytabby



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-09
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-08 02:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1922874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After leaving The Hound, Arya sets off towards Saltpans and meets someone she never would have expected. (I'm crap at summaries. The actual story is better)</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Their Knees

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written anything for this fandom before. But part of it came to me in a dream last night and so I had to write it. Because apparently my brain wanted Arya to meet Lady Stoneheart. Then this happened.

Arya was exhausted. That was the only word for it. She wanted nothing more than to be able to lie down and sleep, preferably for days. But she knew that wasn't possible. Now that The Hound was most likely dead and she was on her own she couldn't afford to let her eyes drift shut for more than an hour or two lest someone were to discover her. She didn't have much, apart from Needle, but she also knew people could get creative if they really wanted something.

She really needed to get to Saltpans and soon. For the past few days she hasn't been able to shake the feeling that she’s being followed. At first she tried to put it off to her mind playing tricks on her now that she’s alone and vulnerable. Now she’s not so sure. As she’s tying her bedroll to her horse Craven the feeling that she’s being watched comes over her again. She glances around not seeing anything out of place. Then there’s movement, a cloak disappearing behind one of the trees. Never having been one to cower away Arya grabs Needle and walks towards where she saw the cloak.

“I know you’re here,” says Arya, “I saw your cloak.”

There’s nothing. Only silence. And the wind.

She tries again “You've been following me for days. So you can either show yourself or go back to wherever you came from.”

Just when her confidence was beginning to waiver making her think there was nothing there after all a figure seems to almost glide out from behind the tree. Something about the figure makes Arya take a step back. The figure, a woman from what Arya can tell, stops a few paces away and keeps her hood up and her head down to hide her face. It’s the cloak itself that gives Arya the most pause. She doesn't know how she even recognizes it since it’s been years since she last saw it. But somehow she knows the cloak belongs to her mother. She knows her mother is dead but that doesn't explain the cloak. _Maybe someone stole it_ she thinks. _But who would steal something off a dead woman?_ Then it comes to her. Arya has heard the rumors. Rumors of a woman called Lady Stoneheart, whose skin is the color of curdled milk, and goes around killing people in a way of seeking vengeance against those who wronged her. Arya knows any sane person would be frightened. Not many that have met Lady Stoneheart have lived to tell the tale. But she also knows if this Stoneheart wanted to hurt her she would have done so already.

So Arya does the only thing she can think to do. She squares her shoulders and speaks with as much confidence as she can summon up, “Show me your face.”

It’s faint but she knows she hears a laugh from beneath the hood, though it comes out rattling and more like a wheeze. As does her voice when she speaks, lifting her hand to her throat. “So like my Arya.”

And then she lifts her head and lowers her hood and Arya can’t hold back the gasp that escapes her. Because besides her skin being the color of curdled milk, half of her hair is gone and what’s left is white and brittle. But that’s not what startles Arya. Because this figure also has a long gash at her throat and what looks like scratch marks on her face that have never fully healed. The worst of it is that underneath all that Arya can tell this Lady Stoneheart people were talking about was her mother. She’s some twisted form of Catelyn Stark and suddenly Arya wants to cry. She wants to cry for her family and everything that’s happened. So she does. She falls to her knees, puts her head in her hand and cries.

She’s aware of the thing that used to be her mother kneeling down beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders and the rasping voice once again speaking, “Arya, my Arya.”

Arya wants to pull away. Wishes she could convince herself that this wasn't her mother, not anymore. But she doesn’t. She relaxes into the woman’s arms, a steely look coming over Arya’s eyes as she looks up her, “I want to make them pay. All of them. For that they've done to us.”

Lady Stoneheart – her mother smiles a twisted sort of smile, “So they will.”

Arya knows this isn’t completely her mother anymore. But she knows her mother isn't completely gone either otherwise she wouldn't be here with her. Part of Catelyn Stark is still in there somewhere. And together they’re going to bring their enemies to their knees.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the idea that Lady Stoneheart isn't the same cold monster around her daughters that she is around everyone else. That's partially why I had to write this.


End file.
